On April 19, 2023, Mouse Trap News posted a video to its TikTok account claiming that the Magic Kingdom would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, during the summer of 2023. The video said:
Disney's Magic Kingdom will be open 24/7 this summer. The park is adopting new summer hours where they will never close. In theory, you could spend the whole summer in Magic Kingdom with just one park ticket. If you love Disney and hate sleeping, this is for you.
The account also published an article to their website about the "news."
The video was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The article originated with a website that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature, as follows:
Mouse Trap News is the world's best satire site. We write fake stories about Disney Parks stuff. From Disney Park announcements to Disney Hotel and resort news to made-up Disney partnerships, you can be assured that anything you read here is not true, real, or accurate, but it is fun.
In addition, there is no evidence that Magic Kingdom will be open 24/7 during the summer of 2023. According to the Disney Hours & Events Calendar at the time of publication, Magic Kingdom was scheduled to be open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. from June 1-19, excluding early entry or special event hours.
The website did not give any additional information past June 19. Walt Disney World stated on its website that its theme park operating hours are subject to change, and may do so without warning. We reached out to Walt Disney World about this claim, and will update this fact-check if we hear back.
Disney has previously held events for which the Magic Kingdom would stay open for 24 hours. In 2015, the Tampa Bay Times reported that the company had held such events at least four times. We could find no evidence that these 24-hour events had occurred since, or that the park stayed open longer than 24 hours during these events.
The park also extends its hours for multiple events throughout the year. The Magic Kingdom is one of the Disney theme parks where "Disney After Hours" events are held. During these events, the parks stay open for three additional hours past their normal closing time.
According to Walt Disney World's website, the only upcoming "Disney After Hours" event scheduled to take place in the Magic Kingdom at the time of publication is Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party on "select nights" from Aug. 11 to Nov. 1. Tickets for the event had not gone on sale yet at the time of publication.
At the time of publication, Magic Kingdom also occasionally had extended evening hours events, where guests staying in "select hotels" including Disney Deluxe Resorts and Disney Deluxe Villa Resort could explore the park for at least two hours past the normal time the park would close. At the time of publication. two of these events were scheduled to take place in the Magic Kingdom from June 1-19.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.
